Owner's Manual

Appendix
Congratulations!
Why
do we have
environmentally
labelled
computers?
Environmental
Labelling
of Personal
Computers
You have
just purchased
a TCO'99
approved
and labelled
product!
Your
choice has
provided you
with a
product developed
for
professional
use.
Your
purchase
has also contributed to
reducing
the burden on the
environment and also to the further
development
of
environmentally
adapted
electronics
products.
This
product
meets the
requirements
for the TCO'99 scheme which
provides
for an international environmental and
quality labelling
of
personal
computers.
The
labelling
scheme was
developed
as a
joint
effort
by
the
TCO
(The
Swedish Confederation of Professional
Employees),
Svenska
Naturskyddsforeningen (The
Swedish
Society
for Nature
Conservation),
Statens
Energimyndighet (The
Swedish National
Energy Administration)
and SEMKO
AB.
The
requirements
cover a wide
range
of issues:
environment,
ergonomics, usability,
reduction of electric and
magnetic
fields,
energy
consumption
and electrical
safety.
In
many
countries,
environmental
labelling
has become an established
method for
encouraging
the
adaptation
of
goods
and services to the
environment. The main
problem,
as far as
computers
and other
electronics
equipment
are
concerned,
is that
environmentally
harmful
substances are used both
in
the
products
and
during
their manufacture.
Since it is not so far
possible
to
satisfactorily recycle
the
majority
of
electronics
equipment,
most of these
potentially damaging
substances
sooner or later enter nature.
There are also other characteristics of a
computer,
such as
energy
consumption
levels,
that are
important
from the
viewpoints
of both the
work
(internal)
and natural
(external)
environments. Since all methods of
electricity generation
have a
negative
effect on the environment
(e.g.
acidic and
climate-influencing
emissions,
radioactive
waste),
it is vital to
save
energy.
Electronics
equipment
in
offices is often left
running
continuously
and
thereby
consumes a lot of
energy.